Design and various in silico studies of the novel curcumin derivatives as potential candidates against COVID-19 -associated main enzymes

Novel 1,2,4-triazole-derived Schiff base derivatives: Design, synthesis, and multi-enzyme targeting potential for therapeutic applications

This study synthesized a series of Schiff base derivatives featuring a 1,2,4-triazole framework and characterized through FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 19F NMR, MS, and elemental analysis. Subsequently, the inhibitory activities of these compounds were systematically evaluated in vitro against human carbonic anhydrase (hCA) isozymes I and II, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). The results revealed that compounds 5a and 5c were particularly effective against cholinesterase enzymes, demonstrating their potential for neuroprotective applications. Meanwhile, compounds 5f and 5g exhibited remarkable inhibition of hCA I and II isozymes, suggesting their promise as selective inhibitors for therapeutic areas. Furthermore, molecular docking analyses revealed strong and specific interactions between the active compounds and enzyme binding sites, further supported by molecular dynamics simulations. Additionally, ADMET profiling of all compounds indicated favourable pharmacokinetic properties. The ADMET results suggest that these compounds hold significant potential for clinical applications in central nervous system and various disorders. These findings strongly suggest that the synthesized compounds are promising candidates for addressing unmet therapeutic needs in neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders, with potential applications in multi-enzyme targeting therapies.

In Silico Analysis of Curcumin's Targeted Cancer Therapy: Folate Receptor Pathways and Molecular Interaction Insights

This study explores the therapeutic potential of curcumin (CUR) in cancer therapy, specifically examining its targeted transport through folate receptors and its interaction with certain proteins in breast cancer cell lines. We employed molecular docking technique to assess the binding affinities of CUR with proteins 1H1Q, 1UOM, 4JDD, 5U2D and MCF10A normal breast epithelial cell line protein 5UGB. Out of these, the CUR-1H1Q complex exhibited the greatest binding affinity. To assess the stability of this complex in a biological setting, we conducted molecular dynamics simulations of the 1H1Q-CUR complex for a duration of 100 ns. The simulations demonstrated an extremely stable Cα-backbone, exhibiting a consistently low root mean square deviation. The radius of gyration measurements suggested a condensed structure with specific areas of flexibility. The simulation revealed a consistent hydrogen bond between CUR and 1H1Q, indicating a robust and long-lasting interaction between the two molecules. The results indicate that the cytotoxicity of curcumin on MCF7 cancer cell lines is mainly affected by its interactions with several proteins found in these cancer cells. Among the four proteins tested, 1H1Q has the greatest influence. The high affinity of these proteins for curcumin, which results in the creation of stable complexes, seems to trigger cell death. Curcumin's biocompatibility and toxicological effects were investigated in both normal and cancerous cell lines. The study revealed enhanced biocompatibility and potential toxicity in cancerous cell lines, while demonstrating reduced toxicity in normal cell lines.

K1K2NN: A novel multi-label classification approach based on neighbors for predicting COVID-19 drug side effects

COVID-19, a novel ailment, has received comparatively fewer drugs for its treatment. Side Effects (SE) of a COVID-19 drug could cause long-term health issues. Hence, SE prediction is essential in COVID-19 drug development. Efficient models are also needed to predict COVID-19 drug SE since most existing research has proposed many classifiers to predict SE for diseases other than COVID-19. This work proposes a novel classifier based on neighbors named K1 K2 Nearest Neighbors (K1K2NN) to predict the SE of the COVID-19 drug from 17 molecules' descriptors and the chemical 1D structure of the drugs. The model is implemented based on the proposition that chemically similar drugs may be assigned similar drug SE, and co-occurring SE may be assigned to chemically similar drugs. The K1K2NN model chooses the first K1 neighbors to the test drug sample by calculating its similarity with the train drug samples. It then assigns the test sample with the SE label having the majority count on the SE labels of these K1 neighbor drugs obtained through a voting mechanism. The model then calculates the SE-SE similarity using the Jaccard similarity measure from the SE co-occurrence values. Finally, the model chooses the most similar K2 SE neighbors for those SE determined by the K1 neighbor drugs and assigns these SE to that test drug sample. The proposed K1K2NN model has showcased promising performance with the highest accuracy of 97.53% on chemical 1D drug structure and outperforms the state-of-the-art multi-label classifiers. In addition, we demonstrate the successful application of the proposed model on gene expression signature datasets, which aided in evaluating its performance and confirming its accuracy and robustness.

Curcumin as a natural potential drug candidate against important zoonotic viruses and prions: A narrative review

Zoonotic diseases are major public health concerns and undeniable threats to human health. Among Zoonotic diseases, zoonotic viruses and prions are much more difficult to eradicate, as they result in higher infections and mortality rates. Several investigations have shown curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric, to have wide spectrum properties such as anti-microbial, anti-vascular, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-neoplastic, anti-oxidant, and immune system modulator properties. In the present study, we performed a comprehensive review of existing in silico, in vitro, and in vivo evidence on the antiviral (54 important zoonotic viruses) and anti-prion properties of curcumin and curcuminoids in PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. Database searches yielded 13,380 results, out of which 216 studies were eligible according to inclusion criteria. Of 216 studies, 135 (62.5%), 24 (11.1%), and 19 (8.8%) were conducted on the effect of curcumin and curcuminoids against SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A virus, and dengue virus, respectively. This review suggests curcumin and curcuminoids as promising therapeutic agents against a wide range of viral zoonoses by targeting different proteins and signaling pathways.

Curcumin and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids as bioactive food components with synergistic effects on Alzheimer's disease

Curcumin and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFA) are multifunctional compounds which play an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and little has been addressed about the role of these two compounds together in the progression of the disease. There is evidence of the beneficial effect of combined administration of ω-3 PUFA and other dietary supplements such as vitamins and polyphenols in the prevention of AD, although much remains to be understood about their possible complementary or synergistic activity. Therefore, the objective of this work is to review the research focused on studying the effect and mechanisms of action of curcumin, ω-3 PUFA, and the combination of these nutraceutical compounds, particularly on AD, and to integrate the possible ways in which these compounds can potentiate their effect. The most important pathophysiologies that manifest in AD will be addressed, in order to have a better understanding of the mechanisms of action through which these bioactive compounds exert a neuroprotective effect.

Identification of hits as anti-obesity agents against human pancreatic lipase via docking, drug-likeness, in-silico ADME(T), pharmacophore, DFT, molecular dynamics, and MM/PB(GB)SA analysis

Obesity, characterized by excessive fat accumulation, is a major health concern. Inhibition of human pancreatic lipase, an enzyme involved in fat digestion, offers a potential strategy for weight loss and obesity treatment. This study aimed to identify polyphenols capable of forming stable complexes with human pancreatic lipase to block its activity. Molecular docking, density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and MMPBGBSA calculations were employed to evaluate ligand binding, stability, and energy profiles. Pharmacophore modeling was also performed to identify key structural features for effective inhibition. Virtual screening identified ZINC000015120539, ZINC000000899200, ZINC000001531702, and ZINC000013340267 as potential candidates, exhibiting favorable binding and stable interactions over 100 ns MD simulations. These findings provide insights into the inhibitory potential of selected polyphenols on human pancreatic lipase and support further experimental investigations for obesity treatment.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Synthesis, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of triazole, pyrazole containing thiazole derivatives and molecular docking studies on COVID-19

New series of biologically active triazole and pyrazole compounds containing 2, 4-disubstituted thiazole analogues (12a-l) were synthesized from p-hydroxy benzaldehyde and phenyl hydrazine in excellent yields and purity. All the synthesized compounds were unambiguously identified based on their spectral data analyses (IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR spectra, and HRMS). The final derivatives were evaluated for their in vitro anti-microbial activity after thorough purification. Among all the tested compounds, the compound 12e, 12f and 12 k possess the highest growth inhibitory activity at MIC values of 4.8, 5.1 and 4.0 μg/ml respectively. The antioxidant properties of these compounds demonstrated and revealed remarkable activity compared to the standard antioxidant by using the DPPH free radical-scavenging assay. Moreover, molecular docking studies to evaluate the probable interactions with the catalytic domain of the gram-positive S. aureus topoisomerase IV enzyme may provide new insights for developing these new hybrids as potential antimicrobial agents. The binding affinities of compounds 12a-l were ranging from - 10.0 to - 11.0 kcal/mol with topoisomerase IV enzyme and with COVID-19 main protease binding affinities are ranging from - 8.2 to - 9.3 kcal/mol. These docking studies reveal that the compounds 12a-l could be the best inhibitors for the novel SARS Cov-2 virus and have more future in discovery of potent drug candidates.

Potential RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) inhibitors as prospective drug candidates for SARS-CoV-2

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is considered as one of the most disastrous pandemics for human health and the world economy. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is one of the key enzymes that control viral replication. RdRp is an attractive and promising therapeutic target for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 disease. It has attracted much interest of medicinal chemists, especially after the approval of Remdesivir. This study highlights the most promising SARS-CoV-2 RdRp repurposed drugs in addition to natural and synthetic agents. Although many in silico predicted agents have been developed, the lack of in vitro and in vivo experimental data has hindered their application in drug discovery programs.

Exploring biogenic chalcones as DprE1 inhibitors for antitubercular activity via in silico approach

Cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have increased worldwide in the last few years, and it is a major threat to global TB control strategies and the human population. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a common causative agent responsible for increasing cases of TB and as reported by WHO, approximately, 1.5 million death occurred from TB in 2020. Identification of new therapies against drug-resistant TB is an urgent need to be considered primarily. The current investigation aims to find the potential biogenic chalcone against the potential targets of drug-resistant TB via in silico approach. The ligand library of biogenic chalcones was screened against DprE1. Results of molecular docking and in silico ADMET prediction revealed that ZINC000005158606 has lead-like properties against the targeted protein. Pharmacophore modeling was done to identify the pharmacophoric features and their geometric distance present in ZINC000005158606. The binding stability study performed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the DprE1-ZINC000005158606 complex revealed the conformational stability of the complex system over 100 ns with minimum deviation. Further, the in silico anti-TB sensitivity of ZINC000005158606 was found to be higher as compared to the standards against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The overall in silico investigation indicated the potential of identified hit to act as a lead molecule against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Novel Thioether-Bridged 2,6-Disubstituted and 2,5,6-Trisubstituted Imidazothiadiazole Analogues: Synthesis, Antiproliferative Activity, ADME, and Molecular Docking Studies

In this study, starting from 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives (3-5), a new series of 2,6-disubstituted (compounds 7-15) and 2,5,6-trisubstituted (compounds 16-33) imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]-thiadiazole derivatives were synthesized using cyclization and Mannich reaction mechanisms, respectively. All synthesized compounds were characterized by ¹ H-NMR, ¹³ C-NMR, FT-IR, elemental analysis, and mass spectroscopy techniques. Also, X-ray diffraction analysis were used for compounds 4, 7, 11, 17, and 19. The cytotoxic effects of the new compounds on the viability of colon cancer cells (DLD-1), lung cancer cells (A549), and liver cancer cells (HepG2) were investigated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method in vitro. Compound 15 was found to be the most potent anticancer drug candidate in this series with an IC₅₀ value of 3.63 μM against HepG2 for 48 h. Moreover, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) parameters of the synthesized compounds were calculated and thus, their potential to be safe drugs was evaluated. Finally, to support the biological activity experiments, molecular docking studies of these compounds were carried out on three different target cancer protein structures (PDB IDs: 5ETY, 1M17, and 3GCW), and the amino acids that play key roles in the binding of the compounds to these proteins were determined.

Plant Spices as a Source of Antimicrobial Synergic Molecules to Treat Bacterial and Viral Co-Infections

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the lack of antiviral agents available for human use, while the complexity of the physiological changes caused by coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) imposed the prescription of multidrug pharmacotherapy to treat infected patients. In a significant number of cases, it was necessary to add antibiotics to the prescription to decrease the risk of co-infections, preventing the worsening of the patient's condition. However, the precautionary use of antibiotics corroborated to increase bacterial resistance. Since the development of vaccines for COVID-19, the pandemic scenario has changed, but the development of new antiviral drugs is still a major challenge. Research for new drugs with synergistic activity against virus and resistant bacteria can produce drug leads to be used in the treatment of mild cases of COVID-19 and to fight other viruses and new viral diseases. Following the repurposing approach, plant spices have been searched for antiviral lead compounds, since the toxic effects of plants that are traditionally consumed are already known, speeding up the drug discovery process. The need for effective drugs in the context of viral diseases is discussed in this review, with special focus on plant-based spices with antiviral and antibiotic activity. The activity of plants against resistant bacteria, the diversity of the components present in plant extracts and the synergistic interaction of these metabolites and industrialized antibiotics are discussed, with the aim of contributing to the development of antiviral and antibiotic drugs. A literature search was performed in electronic databases such as Science Direct; SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online); LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences); Elsevier, SpringerLink; and Google Scholar, using the descriptors: antiviral plants, antibacterial plants, coronavirus treatment, morbidities and COVID-19, bacterial resistance, resistant antibiotics, hospital-acquired infections, spices of plant origin, coronaviruses and foods, spices with antiviral effect, drug prescriptions and COVID-19, and plant synergism. Articles published in English in the period from 2020 to 2022 and relevant to the topic were used as the main inclusion criteria.